In the near future, Psionics are among us. Their evil thoughts pulsate across time and space corrupting even the strongest minds. Players assume the role of Agent Cain, a powerful Psionic working for an elite government agency. As Cain, you strive for mastery of innate psychic “Talents” such as the ability to shoot fireballs or the power to summon hideous creatures. Using these “Talents” depletes both Health and Sanity, so players must walk a fine line to ensure that they don't lose their minds!

Several decades before the game starts, a world-renowned genetic engineer named Doctor Joan Aiken discovered a way to utilise the unused portion of the human brain via a serum. The serum would give the user psychic abilities, or "talents", which could manipulate the world around them, for example levitating or shooting a bolt of lightning. Talents were split into collections called totems, and each Psionic specialised in the use of one totem, others even founding their own. Aiken became the founder of the Science totem.

When the game starts, Cain has just been suspended from the DNPC following an incident with Priscilla Divine, leader of the Eye of Ra (a radical organisation who wish to destroy the CoT project for ethical reasons) and founder of the Sun totem. He is eventually recruited back and tasked with infiltrating the Eye of Ra, who have been operating under the guise of a psychic hotline, and apprehend Divine.